


I Camp Deny You're Cute

by CraveyQueen1



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Camp, Camping, M/M, Newsies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-02 15:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4064728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CraveyQueen1/pseuds/CraveyQueen1





	1. Meeting

The wheel on Davey’s suitcase caught in the mud because even nature was against him.  
“Gross.”  
Davey pulled it out and carried the bag to the sign-in table.  
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m usually on time I swear, my brother needed-” The woman sitting at the table thrust a clipboard at him. “Right, sorry.”  
Davey signed in. He handed the board back and tried to shake the woman’s hand, she ignored him.   
“Which building?” He asked.  
She sighed and pointed to a cabin down the path. “There should be one bed left.”  
“Thank you.”   
-  
Scattered teens sat amongst the rows of bunk beds. Talking, showing souvenirs from the past year or exchanging small gifts. They stared at Davey when he walked through the door.   
“Hi,” he said.  
There were a few Heys before people got back to business.  
Davey searched for an unclaimed bed.   
His eyes fell to the boy on the bottom bunk at the back corner. Lounging on an unnecessary number of pillows, headphones in and eyes closed.   
“I don’t think that bed’s taken yet.”  
Davey looked up the bunk beside him. A girl sitting on top with an open book held to her chest smirked down at him. “As for him, I wouldn’t know?”  
“What?”  
The girl went back to her reading.   
Davey walked down the aisle. He lifted his duffel bag to the top bunk and the frame shook.  
The boy on the bottom bunk sat up and pulled out his headphones, “Whoa!”  
“Sorry.”  
The boy’s head peeked out. “No problem.” He looked at Davey.  
Davey wished he wasn’t sweating from the trip down the path.  
“Are you new?” the boy asked.  
“Yes. Isn’t everyone?”  
“To the camp, I was a camper for a few years.”   
“Cool.” Davey heaved his suitcase onto his bunk. He frowned when the muddy wheel hit the mattress.   
“It is pretty cool. I’m Crutchie.”   
“David. Do we need to have nicknames?”  
“It’s more fun.”  
A buzzer sounded and the camp PA system came to life. “All LITs report to the mess hall.” It cut out then buzzed again. “Once their bunks have been set up. There will be an inspection during lunch.”  
“Right,” said Davey.  
“I’ll save you a spot.”


	2. In Over Our Heads

Davey ran in and sat next to Crutchie. A woman standing at the head of the table cleared her throat and Davey could feel her making a mental note.

“Hello LITs, I’m Amy, the camp director. Who’s excited for the next three weeks?”

The table cheered.

“You’ll get over that soon.” She picked up a stack of papers from the table and handed them to the girl from the cabin who was sitting on the side of the table. “Take one and pass them on.”

Everyone made a different noise as they read the schedule.

Crutchie snickered.

“Is something funny?” asked Amy.

“This morning workout, do I just get free time then or…”

“Charlie Morris?”

“Yes.”

“Everyone will run one mile, swim one mile and do fifty pushups per morning. Except Mr. Morris, who will do one hundred sit ups, one hundred pull ups and one hundred beginner push up each morning.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. This isn’t summer camp people, if anything, this is boot camp. The next three weeks will be tough, you’ll hate me, and you’ll hate yourself. You will all want to go home. But if you’re still here in three weeks you’re guaranteed a job at this camp and any camp in the country.”

The table filled with murmurs.

Amy cleared her throat again. “For your first assignment, you see this empty table? You’ll find recipes in the kitchen.”


	3. Heating Up

The next morning was no surprise.   
Crutchie fell back on his mattress and had no plans of moving.  
He heard other LITs come in but didn’t lift his head till one of them stopped in front of his bunk.   
“Hey,” said Davey.  
“You made it.”  
He planned on poking his new pal in the stomach, but he wasn’t sure if what soaked through Davey’s shirt was lake water or sweat. Also, he could not lift his arm.  
“Barely.” Davey leaned on the bed frame so much it shifted. “Sorry.”  
“I’m used to it now.” Crutchie stuck his tongue out at Davey, whose retaliating sneer was quick to melt into a smile.   
Davey sighed and looked at his bed. “I don’t know if I can get up there.”  
Crutchie rolled onto his stomach, groaning all the way.  
“What?” Davey looked down. “Oh, thanks.” He sat on the edge of the mattress. “I think I should have signed up for LITs at a science camp or something.”  
“Nerd.”   
“Wow. Maybe I’ll go shower now.”  
“Dave, I moved over just for you.” Crutchie felt the mattress move as Davey got up. He pushed himself up onto his elbows. “The least you could do is-”   
Davey was pulling his shirt over his head. Crutchie glanced down.  
“Have a good shower,” Crutchie said before planting his face back into his pillow.   
It was going to be a long three weeks.


	4. aMAZEing

Davey wanted to run the second she handed it to him.  
“Now remember,” said Amy as she went down the line giving every other LIT a blindfold, “there will be no peeking. It will be your partner’s job to help you navigate through the maze.”  
“This’ll be fun,” said Crutchie.  
“Yeah,” Davey looked at the furniture scattered across the square of pavement, he looked at the only pair in front of them in line, “fun.”  
-  
“Keep walking forward,” the boy standing beside Davey called to the blindfolded girl.  
Everyone could hear her knee hit the bunk bed.  
“Ow!”  
“Sorry,” the boy shouted.  
Davey heard the boy snicker and his stomach twisted.  
The boy gave the next direction.  
“Hey,” said Crutchie, looking up from his phone. “You wanna plan a strategy or something?”  
“I’ve been memorizing the path, so I think we’ll be okay.”  
“Oh, okay, cool. That’s impressive, cool.”  
“Thanks.”  
Crutchie went back to Cwazy Cupcakes.  
-  
“Are you good?” asked Crutchie as Davey wrapped the blindfold around his eyes. “Do you need help?”  
“I think I’ve got it, thanks.”  
“Alright,” called Amy. “Who can help me move some of the furniture?”  
“What?”   
“Mr. Jacobs, this is a communication and trust building exercise. It is not a chance for you to show   
off.”  
“Right, sorry.” Davey could feel his face going red and the blindfold start itching. “Crutchie?”  
“Yeah?” Crutchie put a hand on Davey’s shoulder.  
“Nothing.”  
-  
It felt like the ground would fall away beneath him whenever Crutchie wasn’t talking.  
“Okay, two steps to the right. You’re almost done.”  
Davey hoped their concepts of ‘almost done’ were similar.  
“Alright, now a few steps forward.”  
“Done!” Amy Shouted.  
Davey jumped.  
“Hey Dave,” Davey could hear Crutchie approaching. He felt Crutchie steady him with a hand on his elbow. “You need help with that blindfold?”  
“Sure, thanks.”


	5. Conflicting feelings

“Okay,” Davey read off his card. “Your conflict is that I am a camper whose tuck shop money got stolen.”  
“Why haven’t we done tuck shop yet?” asked Crutchie. He sat beside Davey, who was sitting against a tree and leaned back on Davey’s legs.   
Davey looked down at Crutchie. “I, uh, I think it’s just for campers.”  
“Is this okay?”  
“Yeah.”  
Crutchie watched Davey’s arm float above him for a while before settling across his stomach.   
“I think I saw a convenience store up the road,” said Crutchie. “We should sneak out.”  
“What? No.”  
“Okay. Just me then. You like chocolate?”  
“You’ll get lost.”  
“What?”  
"You'll get lost."  
"For the entire time we've known each other I've only gotten you lost one time in one forest. That's a decent track record."  
"You've known me for a week. That’s a horrible track record. You'll get lost and I'll have to tell Amy where you went."  
"Wow, snitch.” Crutchie pushed on Davey’s chest with his shoulder. “No wonder someone stole your tuck money."  
“Hey.” Davey pushed Crutchie’s head away but smiled.  
"Boys." Both looked up to see Amy glaring down at them. “This is a conflict resolution activity.”  
“Sorry.”  
“Sorry.”  
"And, I don't remember assigning any of this." She pointed at the scene in front of her.  
"Sorry," said Crutchie. He sat up and moved to lean against the tree.   
Amy went back to her picnic table.  
"I'd give the kids a three minute grace period to return the money and say that if no one returns it I'll call the police. Just so you know," said Crutchie.   
"That sounds right," said Davey. "What's mine?"   
"Yours is..." Crutchie looked over the card. "A camper comes to you with a personal problem."  
"Does it say what kind?"  
Crutchie held the card close to his face and squinted. "They have a crush on one of their friends and they don't know if they should act on it. Kids, right?" Crutchie shrugged.  
"I don't think I'm much help with that kind of thing?"  
"No? Well, say, if you were the kid’s friend, what would you want?"  
"Mr. Morris!" called Amy. "The nurse wants to see you."  
"Dang meds." Crutchie grabbed his crutch and stood up. He dropped his card in the grass.  
"Do you want me to go with you?" Asked Davey.  
"No, I'm good. Besides, that camper needs your help."  
"Right."  
Davey watched Crutchie walk over to the Med Shed.  
"Alright," Amy called a few minutes later. "It's lunch in ten minutes, so return your cards to me."  
Davey stood up and brushed off his pants. He picked up Crutchie's card. He started walking and glanced at the card.  
He stopped and read it again.  
Two campers can't sort out who gets the top bunk


	6. Questions

Davey’s arm was around Crutchie's shoulder the moment he sat down.   
“Hey.” Crutchie looked at Davey.  
“Hey.”   
Crutchie picked a burger from the basket on the table. He watched Davey try to eat his salad.  
“So,” said Davey a few minutes later. “How was the nurse?”  
“Good.”  
“Good." He ate some more salad. "Do you want to talk later?”  
“Sure. About what?”  
“Attention LITs.” Amy stood at the head of the table. “Tomorrow we will be skipping the daily workout, you will not need to get up at six.”  
The table cheered.  
Except Davey.  
“Wait,” he whispered.  
“Tomorrow you will instead be getting up at four to start the canoe trip outlined on the website. I recommend you start packing during your free period after lunch.”  
The table groaned.  
“See,” said Davey.   
“Yes, I know,” said Amy. “It will be two to a canoe and two to a tent. I’ll need to know the pairs now.”  
Davey put up his hand.  
“David and Charlie?” Amy asked.  
They nodded.   
Amy made a note on her clipboard. “What a surprise.”   
-  
“You wanted to talk to me?” Crutchie asked while shoving a handful of clothing into his backpack.   
“Yeah,” Davey looked at the other LITs around the cabin. He sat beside Crutchie on the bunk. “I wanted to say that….”  
“Yeah?”  
“I think that... we, uh….”  
“Are you okay?”  
“Hey.” Another LIT was approaching.   
“Hey Dirk,” said Davey.  
“My flashlight’s out of batteries. I’m asking if anybody has some.”  
Davey pushed down a sigh. “I brought extra.”  
“Thanks.”  
“No problem.”  
-  
The door swung open and Davey saw Crutchie enter the washroom with a bucket of water.  
“Hey Davey,”  
“Hey.”  
Crutchie went over to the sinks and started wiping them down.  
“You wanted to talk to me about something?”  
Davey looked at the urinal he was scrubbing.  
“Later.”  
-  
Crutchie and Davey tried not to lean on each other too much as they stumbled down the dock.  
“We’re the first ones here?” asked Crutchie.  
Amy looked up from her clipboard. She took a long drink of her coffee. “Lifejackets.”  
“Right.”  
-  
Davey helped Crutchie into the canoe.   
Crutchie let his arms go slack and fell onto Davey's chest.  
"Are you okay?" asked Davey.  
"Yes, this was purposeful."  
"Okay." Davey put a hand on Crutchie's back.  
“Is it alright if I just sleep here?” he said into Davey’s lifejacket.  
“I don’t mind.”  
Crutchie moved the paddle that was jabbing into his side. “What did you want to talk about?”  
“Well-”  
Amy blew her whistle. “Remember, we need to be on that island,” She pointed to a dot across the lake, “By 5pm tonight.”  
Crutchie groaned and pushed himself up.   
-  
Davey sat up in his sleeping bag. He put the ribbon back in his book and set it on the ground. “Hey, Crutchie?”  
Crutchie looked up from his Gameboy. “Yeah?”


	7. Sleeping Bags Were Not Made for This

"For the record," said Davey, "I would want them to tell me."  
"What?"  
"If they had a crush on me."  
"Oh, okay," said Crutchie. "Is that what you wanted to talk about?"  
"Yeah."  
"Cool." Crutchie went back to his game.  
A hand reached down Davey's throat and started pulling. "Cool," he said. He grabbed his book and fell back to the ground. Davey opened his book and held it close to his face.   
For minutes there was nothing but the turning of pages and the clicking of buttons.   
"Oh!" Crutchie sat up. "That's what you wanted to talk to me about!" He put down his gameboy.  
"Huh?"  
"If someone likes you you want them to tell you?"  
"Yes."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yes."  
"Super sure?"  
"Crutchie."  
"Well, then, I like you. And not as a friend. Well also as a friend, but you know."  
"Yeah?"  
"Yeah."  
"I like you too."  
"Awesome."  
"Yeah."  
Crutchie lay back in his sleeping bag.  
Davey breathed and put down his book.  
They stared at the ceiling.   
"So..." said Crutchie. “You wanna kiss a bit?"   
"Yeah.”  
"Cool."  
They shuffled around in their sleeping bags to face each other.  
“Hey.”  
“Hey.”  
They leaned in but were just out of reach.   
“Here.” Davey flipped onto his stomach. He crawled closer to Crutchie. His sleeping bag slipped on the tent and he fell. Half on Crutchie, half on the ground. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to- it just-”  
Crutchie wrapped his arms around Davey’s neck. “Dave, you’re fine.”  
“Okay.”  
They kissed.  
Crutchie felt Davey smiling into his mouth. He tried to lean into him but just sent Davey sliding again. Crutchie pulled away.   
“What’s wrong?” asked Davey.  
“Nothing. Move please.”  
Davey shifted over.  
Crutchie sat up and unzipped the side of his sleeping bag.   
“Alright,” said Crutchie, “get in.”


End file.
